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Re: Solid State Record

Hi Gary,

At 09:55 PM 04/19/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Thanks to all who replied to my question about records. No one had any
>specific data about a longer spark from a solid state drive, which I assume
>would allow me to claim the record of 57 inches to a ground rod.  Marco is
>making sparks close to that length, and I expect him to exceed it when he
>gets his big coil in tune.

Indeed, your CW coil spark length seems to have "shocked" most of us :-))
Great work!!  We are all looking forward to hearing how you did it!

>
>Record claiming may be a bit like the Olympics, with categories like
>tiddlywinks, arm wresting, etc.  I blame part of this trend on Terry, who
>claims the record for spark length from ignition coils!  But I consider this
>a part of the fun of coiling, as long as no one takes it too seriously.
>

If course, even now, the coveted GMHEICSLR still remains firmly mine ;-))
He he he!!!
http://www.pupman-dot-com/listarchives/2000/January/msg00257.html

>In response to some of the questions:  The coil is 39.6 cm in diameter,
>winding length 116.6 cm, 387 turns space wound of 14 ga wire.  Resonant
>frequency is 160 kHz.  I am direct driving the base of the coil from a half
>bridge of IGBTs, no primary, no high frequency transformer.  The base sees a
>square wave of plus and minus 1200 V.  The Q is about 500, so by standard
>lumped analysis, if the toroid did not break out, the top voltage would
>reach 500(1200) = 600,000 V.  It reaches breakout voltage of about 500,000 V
>about 1 ms after the pulse train is applied.  Just before breakout, the
>current is in the vicinity of 30 A, so the peak power applied is slightly
>over 30 kW. The power drops to perhaps 3 to 5 kW for the remainder of the
>burst.  I was using 10 ms total for each bang.

Wow!!!!!

>
>At breakout, the frequency drops to about 152 kHz (due to the larger
>effective toroid).  By the end of the 10 ms burst, it is back close to 159
>kHz.  I might mention that the controller is a non-trivial item.  It needs
>to find the exact resonant frequency, hold frequency stable at that value to
>within 50 Hz (out of 160,000 Hz) before breakout, and then slew at say 100
>Hz per microsecond to keep up with the changing frequency.
>
>To my eye, the sparks look just like the sparks from a well tuned NST spark
>gap coil. They are white, thick, branched, and energetic.
>
>I don't have a web site.  I also do not intend to keep any secrets from
>anyone interested in solid state drives.  I am writing up my notes now, and
>will make them available for the cost of photocopying and postage.  I will
>announce them on this list when I am finished.  It may be a few months.

I can understand the effort required to "write this up"!  It appears you
now hold the coveted record for spark length out of CW coils!  I leave it
to others to come up with the "acronym" for that ;-))

Cheers,

       Terry
        Still proud holder the coveted GMHEICSLR* at 13.25 inches. :-))

*General Motors High Energy Ignition Coil Spark Length Record

Don't EVEN think of trying to take the coveted GMHEICSLR* away from me
either ;-)))


>
>Gary Johnson
>